When I first began learning about the worst case scenarios associated with emergencies and disasters, I have to admit there was a part of me terrified of waves of crime and gangs attacking our home and injuring my family. I knew that when the needs of the unprepared are not met, they are more likely to participate in breakdowns of society that eventually lead to them taking matters into their own hands.
Essentially, I believed my future would be a life living in fear. What if my husband was injured? How would I protect my family alone? I had tunnel vision and was not looking at the greater picture. Admitting to having fear is perfectly normal when we’re talking about an SHTF scenario. This feare helps us to better prepare our families to take better care of them. Once we remove the goggles for tunnel vision, only then can we realize we have a great opportunity at our disposal. If we want to thrive – we need our communities to thrive as well.
The resilience of our communities is solely dependent on how prepared each of its members are. A prepared community can prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and assist in recovery from threats that pose the greatest risk.
To make this happen, our efforts must lie in readying our entire community through preparedness-based education and actively putting preparedness measures and supplies in each household. But first, you must ensure that your own home is prepared before you can branch out into preparing a community. Each household should look into creating a preparedness plan, securing preparedness measures of their own and also actively creating security layers outside and inside the home to defend against vulnerabilities.
The Pros to a Prepared Community
In an extended emergency, a prepared community can bind together to share responsibilities and distribute tasks such as gardening, hunting, cooking, purifying water, gathering essential supplies and protecting the community. Knowing what your neighbor’s strengths are will help create a more prepared community.
We are all aware of the strength in numbers, and our odds of survival rest partly in those we can rely on. Having a large group of prepared individuals will help the community thrive for longer amounts of time because multiple parties will have preparedness supplies to draw from. Along those lines, a large group of preppers can diversify themselves through cross training in various essential skills. Individuals bringing a variety of skills binds the group further to create a solid, well-functioning team.
In all honesty, you must realize that not everyone in the community will be on board toward getting supplies in place. Keep in mind that all you can do is prepare the ones who are on board and who see the bigger picture of getting a community prepared.
How To Create a Preparedness Plan for Your Community
It is more worthwhile to teach someone to do something, than to do something for them. The quote, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” comes to mind when the discussion of community-based preparedness is addressed. Rather than relying on the government to take care of our needs, we need the entire community to be well informed as well as self sufficient. We have seen first hand how inundated police and other emergency personnel become during and after a disaster – we are essentially left on our own until the recovery efforts begin. In an extended emergency, a prepared community can bind together to weather the storm. As a whole, a community should understand the importance of making preparedness a priority. This concept comes down to education.
Educating the masses on emergency preparedness will keep a community level headed as well as be more accepting at what needs to happen in order for the greater community to survive. They will understand what is to be expected during and after a disaster, what their duties are as citizens and how to better protect their community. This proactive mindset will trickle down to younger generations thus creating a more preparedness based mindset for future generations.
1. Make a plan. Similar to creating your own family’s preparedness plan, ask similar questions to begin the task of community wide education on preparedness. Ask your neighborhood and other members of the community for input on how a community can be more prepared. This will help you find out what your community believes its vulnerabilities and concerns are. Create a questionnaire that lists multiple preparedness-based questions such as:
What do you believe the most likely disasters to prepare for are?
What do you believe the biggest concerns are during and after a disaster?
Do you believe the community is prepared enough to thrive during a disaster? If not, what ways can we make it so?
What skills do you possess that could benefit the community in a disaster?
Further, find out about the disaster plans at your workplace, your children’s school or daycare center, and other places where your family spends time. Once you have an understanding of what your community’s concerns and strengths are, establish close relationships with local community organizations. Seeing that you are willing to volunteer your time and services to this cause will help them be more willing to make this a priority. Further, getting to know what your local organizations’ protocols are toward emergencies will help your community better understand how to develop action plans, and guidelines for procedures and communication during a crisis. Some questions to ask community leaders and emergency organizations are:
Should the public become involved in the response? If so, in what way(s)?
What public or community function(s) has been or may be adversely impacted?
What geographical area(s) has been or may be adversely impacted if a disaster occurs?
How many people could be threatened, affected, exposed, injured, or dead?
How will the community help elderly or disabled persons, if needed?
If critical infrastructures have been affected (e.g., electrical power, water
supplies, sanitation, telecommunications, transportation, etc.), in what ways can the community thrive?
If the medical and healthcare facilities have been affected, what protocols can be taken to ensure the community has medical care?
Are escape routes open and accessible during disasters?
What other agencies and organizations will respond to an incident?
How can information be communicated to responders and the public to protect itself?
Does your community have existing mutual-aid agreements with other agencies,organizations, or jurisdictions?
Has an Incident Command Post (ICP) been established? If so, where is it?
Who is the Incident Commander (IC)? How can the IC be contacted?
If the local or state government is not operating, who is next in line?
What are your community’s warning signals: what they sound like and what you should do when you hear them?
How will animals be cared for after a disaster?
Some organizations that have mutual- aid agreements would be beneficial to your endeavors. Some organizations to contact could be:
Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs)
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Medical/health/behavioral care providers
Fire, law enforcement, and other federal,
State, local, and tribal response organizations
Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs)
State, regional, and tribal public health response coordinators
Academic institutions (schools of public health, medicine, nursing, etc.)
Other pertinent agencies/organizations such as churches, meet up groups or already existing prepper groups
2. Make it public. With the information you have accrued, you can report back the findings to your community and begin developing protocols and action plans. At the meetings, have all pertinent information and lists available for the public. I have found that checklists help a lot in organizing information that can easily be read. Meanwhile, keep providing information to local leaders and interested community members. You can do this by:
Creating a monthly meeting with free preparedness training provided.
A website with a newsletter to get information out to the masses.
Participating in public service announcements or putting notices on local cable television are other ways to keep the community informed.
Forming a partnership with local media outlets can be invaluable for promoting your program and recognizing contributions from presenters and others.
You can also advertise your page in the free classified sections of local newspapers.
Start a face book page for local residents to post preparedness and prepper deals.
Further, setting up activities outdoors such as a barbecue or outdoor preparedness fair to meet the community will also assist in getting your message across. To show your passion for this cause, take photographs of preparedness sessions to promote future sessions or add them to your website and social media platforms. Note: Remember to get releases from individuals before publishing the photographs.
3. Educate the masses. Take a lesson from the major emergency organizations out there – educate, train and implement strategies to help the community feel comfortable about the emergency protocols in place. In a disaster situation, when a community understands what is happening and what to expect, they are more responsive to the situation itself and can easily adapt to their environment. Provide orientation and training to the public on the emergency operations plans, procedures, guidelines, command and management systems, and incident management systems used by your community.
4. Practice makes perfect. Participate in the planning, design, and conduct of routine exercises to evaluate the public’s knowledge on emergency preparedness and response. A critical component to survival is having the right frame of mind to handle the stresses before and after a disaster. Teach a community the importance of mental preparedness and help simulate real disaster scenarios so they are less apt to panic during an actual disaster.
Together We Stand
You have a unique opportunity to share your knowledge and your skills with your community. We want our communities to be safer, stronger, and better prepared to withstand emergencies. Preparedness efforts should start with your household and expand into the greater community.
Educating the masses on the importance of emergency preparedness, setting up protocols, and cooperating with existing disaster organization’s procedures will help the community as a whole pool resources and sustain themselves in times of long-term recovery.
Todays sunspot number is 212. The uptick in activity, and the increase in the number of sunspots is normal for this point in the solar cycle. While there will still be periods with lower sunspot numbers the overall trend is increasing.
NOAA estimate a 75% chance of an M-class flare over the next 24 hours and a 50% chance of an X-class during the same period.
AR1748, the source of several major flares over the last few days is a little quieter than of late but its complex magnetic field that twists and crisscrosses still harbors the energy for X-class flares. It is moving across the face of the sun and during the next few days will move into a position whereby anything it does throw off will impact the Earth directly.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
In her book titled No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth, nuclear power/environmental health expert Rosalie Bertell (1929 – 2012) said:
Should the public discover the true health cost(s) of nuclear pollution, a cry would rise from all parts of the world and people would refuse to cooperate passively with their own death.
In her article titled “Radioactivity: No Immediate Danger,” she coined a new word. “Omnicide” describes the ultimate human rejection of life. It’s “difficult to comprehend,” but it’s happening, she said.
She called industrial radioactive pollution “cumulatively greater than Chernobyl. We are now in a no-win situation with radioactive materials, where (it’s) acceptable to have cancer deaths, deformed children and miscarriages.”
Industry propaganda falsely claims nuclear power is clean and green. The nuclear fuel cycle discharges significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
It’s also responsible for hundreds of thousands of curies of deadly radioactive gases and elements in the environment annually.
“Claiming nuclear production of energy is ‘clean,’ ” said Bertell, “is like dieting but stuffing yourself with food between meals.”
Separately, she said:
There is no such thing as a radiation exposure that will not do damage. There is a hundred per cent possibility that there will be damage to cells. The next question is: which damage do you care about?
All toxic hazards are serious, she explained. Nuclear radiation is worst of all. It threatens all human life. “Our present path is headed toward species death – whether fast with nuclear war or technological disaster, or slow, by poison.”
Global suicide is certain. Continued nuclear proliferation and Fukushima accelerated it.
March 11 marked its second anniversary. It’s perhaps the worst ever environmental disaster. Reliable experts call large parts of Japan unsafe. They’re too hazardous to live in.
According to Professor Hiroaki Koide, Tokyo’s as contaminated as Fukushima. Thousands of city residents protested. They oppose nuclear power. They want safe energy sources replacing it.
Radiation contamination is widespread. East Asia, North America, Europe and other areas are affected.
Hazardous air, water and land readings across many areas globally are many multiples too high. Future epidemic cancer levels are certain. It occurs when body cells divide and spread uncontrollably. If untreated, it metastasizes and kills.
Michel Chossudovsky calls Fukushima “a nuclear war without a war.” It’s an “unspoken crisis of worldwide nuclear contamination.”
Tens of thousands of children have confirmed thyroid abnormalities. They reflect the tip of the iceberg. Children are especially vulnerable. No radiation dose is safe.
Karl Grossman wants planet earth made a “nuclear free zone.” We barely made it through the last century without a “major nuclear weapons exchange,” he said.
Nuclear energy in all forms is unsafe. Safe, clean, renewable solar, wind, geothermal, and other energy sources are readily available.
Admiral Hyman Rickover (1900 – 1986) was the father of America’s nuclear navy. In January 1982, he told a congressional committee that until a few billion years ago, “it was impossible to have any life on earth.”
“There was so much radiation on earth you couldn’t have any life, fish or anything.” Gradually the amount subsided. “Now, we are creating something which nature tried to destroy to make life possible.”
“Every time you produce radiation, (a) horrible force” is unleashed. “In some cases (it’s) for billions of years, and I think the human race is going to wreck itself.”
“I am talking about humanity. The most important thing we could do is start having an international meeting where we first outlaw nuclear weapons to start off with. Then we outlaw nuclear reactors, too.”
“The lesson for history is when a war starts, every nation will ultimately use whatever weapons are available. That is the lesson learned time and again.” ”
“Therefore, we must expect, if another war, a serious war breaks out, we will use nuclear energy in some form. We will probably destroy ourselves.” Widespread contamination acts in slow motion.
Disturbing reports explain. In early April, around 120 tons of contaminated water leaked from Fukushima’s No. 1′s underground storage tank. It contained an estimated 710 billion becquerels of radioactivity.
Water around the affected tank is highly radioactive. It’s about 800 meters from the Pacific. Government and Tokyo Electric (Tepco) claimed it won’t likely reach it. Numerous previous reports suggest otherwise.
Tepco general manager Masayuki Ono said “(w)e cannot deny the fact that our faith in the underwater tanks is being lost.”
In November 2012, Nature.com headlined “Ocean still suffering from Fukushima fallout,” saying:
Radioactivity is persisting in the ocean waters close to Japan’s ruined nuclear power plant at Fukushima Daiichi.
New data show high contamination levels. “The Fukushima disaster caused by far the largest discharge of radioactivity into the ocean ever seen.”
Radiation levels aren’t dropping. “The implications are serious for the fishing industry.”
On December 26, CleanEnergy.org headlined “Japan Continues Struggle with Aftermath from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster,” saying:
….an estimated 160,000 (Japanese) citizens still have not returned home. Reports of illness in humans and livestock continue to underscore the far reaching and difficult to predict impacts that a nuclear accident can cause.
In July 2012, 36% of Japanese children screened had abnormal thyroid growths. Months later an illness called the “Fukushima syndrome” was killing cattle throughout Fukushima Prefecture.
Mutations were found in butterflies and other insects. Their shorter life cycles allow genetic disruptions to show up sooner than in humans or other mammals.
On April 11, Bloomberg.com headlined “Tepco Faces Decision to Dump Radioactive Water in Pacific,” saying:
“Leaks were found in three of seven pits in the past week….” Options for moving contaminated water are limited.
“With Japan’s rainy season approaching, contaminated water levels are likely to increase…”
“Yesterday, Tepco reported another leak of radiated water, this time from a pipe.”
“Pacific bluefin tuna caught off San Diego in August 2011 was found to contain radioactive cesium 10 times higher than fish seized in previous years….” Perhaps its much higher now.
On April 15, Science Dail headlined “The Fukushima Dai-Ichi Power Plant Accident: Two Years On, the Fallout Continues,” saying:
“….(S)cientists are still trying to quantify the extent of the damage.” Most important is “determining just how much hazardous material escaped into the atmosphere….”
Japan Atomic Energy Agency researchers now say previously estimated “137C and 131l” release rates were too low.
On March 11, 2013, nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen said “(t)here’s definitely a large crack, perhaps five inches in diameter, in Fukushima reactor 2.”
Containment is sorely lacking. Pacific Ocean leakage continues.
On April 24, Natural News headlined “Massive, uncontained leak at Fukushima is pouring over 710 billion becquerels of radioactive materials into atmosphere,” saying:
It’s the largest ever plant leakage. Fukushima’s disaster never ends. It “keeps on giving.”
“(N)ew reports indicate that a wealth of new radioactive materials have been spewed into the atmosphere.”
It’s spreading globally. Nuclear radiation is forever. It doesn’t dissipate or disappear. No safe level exists. Every dose is an overdose. Bertell was right. “Omnicide” threatens everyone.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
As of 19 April 2013 (18:00 CET), the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China notified WHO of an additional four laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus from Jiangsu 1 (0) and Zhejiang 3 (0). No additional death has been reported.
Details of these four cases are as follows:
A 54 year old male, from Jiangsu Province, became ill on 9 April 2013 and was hospitalized on 15 April 2013. He is currently in critical condition. On 17 April 2013, he was laboratory confirmed.
A 43 year old male, unemployed, from Zhejiang Province, became ill on 12 April 2013 and was hospitalized on 15 April 2013. He was laboratory confirmed on 18 April 2013.
A 48 year old male, from Zhejiang Province, became ill on 11 April 2013 and was hospitalized on 17 April 2013. He was laboratory confirmed on 19 April 2013.
A 66 year old female, from Zhejiang Province, with history of exposure to live poultry had onset of illness on 10 April 2013. She was hospitalized on 17 April 2013 and was laboratory confirmed on 19 April 2013.
To date, there are a total of 91 laboratory confirmed human cases with influenza A(H7N9) virus including seventeen fatalities in China reported from four Provinces: Anhui 3 (1), Henan 3 (0), Jiangsu 22 (3) and Zhejiang 30 (2) and two Municipalities: Beijing 1 (0) and Shanghai 32 (11). Currently, 67 patients are hospitalized and seven have been discharged.
Influenza A(H7N9) is one of a subgroup of influenza viruses that normally circulate among birds. Until recently, this virus had not been seen in people. However, human infections have now been detected.
As yet, there is limited information about the scope of the disease the virus causes and about the source of exposure. The disease is of concern because most patients have been severely ill. There is no indication thus far that it can be transmitted between people, but both animal-to-human and human-to-human routes of transmission are being actively investigated.
There are reports from some media outlets that human to human transmission is now suspected in a number of cases though WHO have not confirmed this.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
A US military helicopter taking part in a joint South Korea-US drill has crashed near the North Korean border.
The CH-53 US Marine helicopter was carrying 21 personnel on board but officials said there were no casualties.
In a statement the US Forces in Korea said the Super Stallion helicopter had “executed a hard landing” while on a routine flight operation in Cheolwon county, which is on the border with North Korea.
The precise cause of the accident was not immediately known, the statement said, adding that a “comprehensive investigation” had been ordered.
All five crew members and 16 other service personnel – who belonged to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit stationed in Japan – were taken to a US military hospital in Seoul.
Fifteen were later released, while six remained in hospital in a “stable condition”.
Pictures from the site taken by the Yonhap news agency showed firefighters using foam to douse the burned wreckage of the helicopter, which was taking part in an annual South Korea-US exercise called “Foal Eagle”.
The Korean peninsula is currently at a state of heightened military tensions, partly due to North Korea’s anger over the joint exercises, which it sees as an invasion rehearsal.
Incensed by fresh UN sections following its third nuclear test in February, Pyongyang has spent weeks issuing blistering threats of missile strikes and nuclear war against the South, Japan and the US.
It has declared itself to be in a “state of war” with the South, called the US an “enemy of the state” and threatened the Japanese capital would be “consumed in nuclear flames”.
On Sunday, the US and China said they were committed to finding a peaceful means of ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons.
Secretary of State John Kerry said a further missile test would be a “huge mistake” and called on China to halt the escalating tensions.
There are 28,500 US military personnel permanently stationed in South Korea.
So far the conflict between the USG and North Korean is a virtual false-flag only.A major Psyops designed to deflect attention away from a seriously failing US Administration which is pulling out all the stops to pass gun-control laws which are designed to eventually lead to complete confiscation.
This current conflict with North Korea has been engineered and portrayed as a real state of conflict when it is virtual only. In practical terms, North Korea and America are now only involved in a state of virtual war which is unlikely to be followed with an actual real shooting war.
Virtual war is an imaginary war fought only in the major mass media, and the enemy is the news consumer or the public which is psychologically managed. Virtual war is a newer type of warfare which is a major Psychological operation, (aka a Psyop), that is, an act of Mindwar against the people.
As the infamous Iron Mountain study group which was comprised of the some of the top secular scientists inside America concluded, a state of war is needed by societies to solidify them, strengthen them and consolidate central governmental power necessary for the survival of the existing power structure.
It was their conclusion that the state’s exercise of its war-making power provided the glue which held a nation together and maintained their power over that society.
Operation Decepticon—North Korea
A Decepticon is a two part operation where the first part, a major international deception is communicated in the mass media after being engineered by various USG officials and military working with counterparts in other nations.
The second part of the operation is comprised of using that major deception to manufacture false confidence (the Con) of the people in their government where none is indicated or deserved.
The current USG conflict with North Korea is a backchannel, virtual war being fought in the major mass media for the purpose of distracting the American public and creating the illusion that the current administration has prevented WW3, thus strengthening its viability.
There is something for everyone when a Decepticon is successfully deployed. The USG gets what it wants, a bolstered image on successful avoidance of WW3 and an appearance of major nuclear war power that established predominance in the world.
The Korean people get bamboozled and feel that they really showed the South Koreans and the Americans and Japanese they can’t be pushed around. And maybe a deal has already been negotiated for backchannel food or fuel shipments to North Korea as part of the pre-arranged virtual war?
The economy at home in America is failing, the common man has about had it with the current administration and a long line of presidents that have NOT served the people.
Certainly the cover stories that have been spun would shock the tooth fairy! Like the tall tale that Chinese leaders are getting angry with the naughty little Kim Jong Un. or that North Korea has viable nukes and working ICBMs that can go all the way to Hawaii and Austin Texas.
If folks believe these stories I have a nice bridge in Brooklyn you can buy at a reasonable price.
The American People are the main target of this virtual false-flag attack on their psyche, belief system and group mind.
A genetic analysis of the avian flu virus responsible for at least nine human deaths in China portrays a virus evolving to adapt to human cells, raising concern about its potential to spark a new global flu pandemic.
The collaborative study, conducted by a group led by Masato Tashiro of the Influenza Virus Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo, appears in the current edition (April 11, 2013) of the journal Eurosurveillance. The group examined the genetic sequences of H7N9 isolates from four of the pathogen’s human victims as well as samples derived from birds and the environs of a Shanghai market.
“The human isolates, but not the avian and environmental ones, have a protein mutation that allows for efficient growth in human cells and that also allows them to grow at a temperature that corresponds to the upper respiratory tract of humans, which is lower than you find in birds,” says Kawaoka, a leading expert on avian influenza.
The findings, drawn from genetic sequences deposited by Chinese researchers into an international database, provide some of the first molecular clues about a worrisome new strain of bird flu, the first human cases of which were reported on March 31 by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, the new virus has sickened at least 33 people, killing nine. Although it is too early to predict its potential to cause a pandemic, signs that the virus is adapting to mammalian and, in particular, human hosts are unmistakable, says Kawaoka.
Access to the genetic information in the viruses, he adds, is necessary for understanding how the virus is evolving and for developing a candidate vaccine to prevent infection.
Human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus in China – update
As of 11 April 2013 (17:00 CET), the National Health and Family Planning Commission notified WHO of an additional 10 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus.
The patients include:
a 70-year-old man from Jiangsu who became ill on 29 March 2013;
a 74-year-old man from Jiangsu who became ill on 2 April 2013;
a 65-year-old man from Zhejiang who became ill on 3 April 2013;
a 76-year-old woman from Shanghai who became ill on 1 April 2013;
an 81-year-old woman from Shanghai who became ill on 4 April 2013;
a 74-year-old man from Shanghai who became ill on 31 March 2013 and died on 11 April 2013;
an 83-year-old woman from Shanghai who became ill on 2 April 2013;
a 68-year-old man from Shanghai who became ill on 4 April 2013;
a 31-year-old man from Jiangsu who became ill on 31 March 2013; and
a 56-year-old man from Jiangsu who became ill on 3 April 2013.
To date, a total of 38 patients have been laboratory confirmed with influenza A(H7N9) virus in China; including 10 deaths, 19 severe cases and nine mild cases.
More than 760 close contacts of the confirmed cases are being closely monitored.
The Chinese government is actively investigating this event and has heightened disease surveillance. Retrospective testing of recently reported cases with severe respiratory infection may uncover additional cases that were previously unrecognized. An inter-government task force has been formally established, with the National Health and Family Planning Commission leading the coordination along with the Ministry of Agriculture and other key ministries. The animal health sector has intensified investigations into the possible sources and reservoirs of the virus.
WHO is in contact with national authorities and is following the event closely. The WHO-coordinated international response is also focusing on work with WHO Collaborating Centres for Reference and Research on Influenza and other partners to ensure that information is available and that materials are developed for diagnosis and treatment and vaccine development. No vaccine is currently available for this subtype of the influenza virus. Preliminary test results provided by the WHO Collaborating Centre in China suggest that the virus is susceptible to the neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir).
At this time there is no evidence of ongoing human-to-human transmission.
WHO does not advise special screening at points of entry with regard to this event, nor does it recommend that any travel or trade restrictions be applied.
About this Disease Outbreak News
1. WHO is currently publishing information on laboratory confirmed cases received through the official notification from the Chinese National International Health Regulations (IHR) Focal Point once a day. This formal notification and publication follows verification of the information, and may therefore come after, or not include, some cases reported through public media and other sources.
2. To date, there is limited information to determine whether the reported number of cases represents some or all of the cases actually occurring. As some relatively mild cases of illness have now been reported, it is possible that there are other such cases that have not been identified and reported.
3. If the current pattern of sporadic infections continues, WHO will cease frequent reporting of case numbers, and focus its Disease Outbreak News on new developments or changes in the pattern or presentation of infections.
Although the sunspot count is lower today at 121 the chances of a large flare have increased overnight. Sunspots AR1718 and AR 1719 are both Earth facing and full of the energy for flares, Two more sunspots AR1721 and AR1722 are moving into position where anything they throw off will be Earth directed.
NOAA estimates a 50% chance of a large M class flare occurring during the next 24 hours, and a 15% chance of an X class during the same period.
Charged particles from the M6 flare yesterday are coming our way and should hit the Earths magnetic field in the early hours of April 13th giving rise to the possibility of auroras at high latitudes.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
The US says it is urging China to use all its leverage to help rein in North Korea’s “destabilising” actions.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is in South Korea, where he is expected to call on China to evoke “a sense of urgency” in its talks with the North.
Pyongyang has ratcheted up tensions in the region, threatening nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US.
A leaked US intelligence report has said the North may now be capable of mounting nuclear warheads on a missile.
On Thursday, a US Congressman read out what he said was an unclassified section of a Defense Intelligence Agency study. He said it assessed “with moderate confidence” that the North could fire a nuclear-armed missile, though with “low reliability”.
The North has tested both nuclear weapons and missiles, but it had been thought it had not yet developed a device small enough to be a viable and deliverable weapon.
Such a development would change the past 20 years of diplomacy, says the BBC’s Lucy Williamson in Seoul, all of which has been aimed at stopping North Korea from getting that sort of weapon.
But the Pentagon later denied the report, with spokesman George Little saying it would be “inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced in the passage”.
South Korea is currently on a high state of alert amid indications that the North is preparing for a missile test.
Pyongyang has moved two Musudan ballistic missiles to its east coast. Estimates of their range vary, but some suggest the missiles could travel 4,000km (2,500 miles).
That would put US bases on Guam within range, although it is not believed that the Musudan has been tested before.
Mainstream Media Awakens to the fact that Fukushima Is Still a Total Mess
After visiting Fukushima a year ago, Senator Ron Wyden warned that the situation was worse than reported … and urged Japan to accept international help to stabilize dangerous spent fuel pools.
A year ago, an international coalition of nuclear scientists and non-profit groups called on the U.N. to coordinate a multi-national effort to stabilize the fuel pools. And see this.
A year ago, former U.N. adviser Akio Matsumura – whose praises have been sung by Mikhail Gorbachev, U.S. Ambassadors Stephen Bosworth and Glenn Olds, and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Goldman Sachs co-chair John C. Whitehead – noted:
The current Japanese government has not yet mentioned the looming disaster, ostensibly to not incite panic in the public. Nevertheless, action must be taken quickly. *** We believe an independent, international team of structural engineers and other advisers must be assembled and deployed immediately.
Increasingly, experts are arguing that the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, cannot be trusted to lead what is expected to be decades of cleanup and the decommissioning of the plant’s reactors without putting the public, and the environment, at risk.
***
“The Fukushima Daiichi plant remains in an unstable condition, and there is concern that we cannot prevent another accident,” Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, said at a news conference.
***
“No wonder the water is leaking,” said Hideo Komine, a professor in civil engineering at Ibaraki University, just south of Fukushima. He said that the outer protective lining should have been hundreds of times thicker.
***
Muneo Morokuzu, a nuclear safety expert at the Tokyo University Graduate School of Public Policy, said that the plant required a more permanent solution that would reduce the flood of contaminated water into the plant in the first place, and that Tepco was simply unable to manage the situation. “It’s become obvious that Tepco is not at all capable of leading the cleanup,” he said. “It just doesn’t have the expertise, and because Fukushima Daiichi is never going to generate electricity again, every yen it spends on the decommissioning is thrown away.”
“That creates an incentive to cut corners, which is very dangerous,” he said. “The government needs to step in, take charge and assemble experts and technology from around the world to handle the decommissioning instead.”
A makeshift system of pipes, tanks and power cables meant to carry cooling water into the melted reactors and spent fuel pools inside shattered buildings remains highly vulnerable, Nuclear Regulation Authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka acknowledged Wednesday.
***
The problems have raised doubts about whether the plant can stay intact through a decommissioning process that could take 40 years, prompting officials to compile risk-reduction measures and revise decommissioning plans.
***
Just over the past three weeks, there have been at least eight accidents or problems at the plant, the nuclear watchdog said.
***
Experts suspect the radioactive water has been leaking since early in the crisis, citing high contamination in fish caught in waters just off the plant.
***
“The nuclear crisis is far from over,” the nationwide Mainichi newspaper said in a recent editorial. “There is a limit to what the patchwork operation can do on a jury-rigged system.”
Todays sunspot number is 116. Three large sunspots all have the energy to produce flares, and are already doing so but at the C class level. AR1718 is still in a position where anything it throws off will be a direct hit on the Earth and rapidly growing sunspot AR19 will move into position as AR18 moves off to the west of the sun disc.
NOAA estimate the chance of an M class flare at 20% over the next 24 hours, and 0.1% of an X class over the same period though this can change rapidly as the sunspots grow and their magnetic field becomes more complex.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
North Korea has started moving weaponry to its Eastern coast facing Japan. There are signs according to officials that the North could fire Musdan, Scud and Nodong missiles either simultaneously or in quick succession. Japan is on high alert following the move and have deployed Patriot missile batteries to strategic areas.
There is little doubt that should North Korea launch missiles they will be shot down, the question is how will they react to that?
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
Pyongyang has issued a warning urging foreign nationals to evacuate South Korea, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The statement was followed by threats from North Korea of “thermonuclear” war on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has warned all foreign nationals to prepare to evacuate the South in the event of conflict. “We do not wish harm on foreigners in South Korea should there be a war,” Reuters quoted KCNA news agency as saying, citing the spokesperson for its Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee.
The warning was read out on North Korea’s state television: “all international organizations,businesses and tourists” were told to “work out measures for the evacuation”.
The statement was followed by renewed threats of “thermonuclear” war on the Korean Peninsula, AFP reported.
“The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermonuclear war,” Pyongyang’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee stated.
No evacuation in sight
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged N. Korea to refrain from “provocative rhetoric” and encouraged other countries to exercise their influence over Pyongyang.
“The current level of tension is very dangerous. A small incident caused by miscalculation or misjudgment may create an uncontrollable situation,” Reuters quoted Ban Ki-moon as saying.
The Russian Embassy in South Korea said that it has no plans to evacuate Russians from the country over Pyongyang’s warning.
“At this point we are working out our position on the issue. But our preliminary response has no signs of plans related to evacuation,” RIA Novosti quoted Russian diplomatic spokesperson Nikita Kharin as saying.
N. Korea issued another warning last week advising embassies there to consider evacuating in the event of war. Currently, about two dozen countries have embassies in North Korea; most have said there are no immediate plans to withdraw personnel.
Despite the heavy rhetoric, the atmosphere in S. Korea remained calm with embassies, airlines, international offices and schools with foreign nationals operating normally, Reuters reported.
China responded by saying that it does not want to see chaos in the Korean Peninsula and opposes further escalation, Reuters quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei as saying.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said that she was resolved to break North Korea’s“vicious cycle” of having their bad behavior rewarded with economic aid.
“How long are we going to repeat this vicious cycle where the North Koreans create tensions and we give them compromises and aid?” she said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.“North Korea must stop its wrong behavior and make a right choice for the future of the Korean nation.”
The aggressive rhetoric from North Korea has motivated neighboring Japan to deploy Patriot missiles batteries to protect the 36 million people who live in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Two Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air missile launchers have been stationed in the Japanese capital, reinforcing battery units on Okinawa and other Pacific islands, an official said Tuesday.
The weapons were authorized to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards Japanese territory, Defense Minister Onodera Itsunori said on national television.
On Monday South Korea said that nuclear support from Washington is needed to protect against North Korea’s continued aggression and unpredictability, and to keep its neighbor in check. Rep. Chung Moon-joon suggested that South Korea needs nuclear weapons of its own – not just to intimidate Pyongyang, but also to send a strong message to China.
The situation was worsened on Tuesday when North Korean laborers did not show up for work at the Kaesong joint industrial zone in the morning, effectively suspending operations. Earlier, Pyongyang refused to allow South Korean workers to enter the area, located a few kilometers inside the North’s territory.
Over the weekend, US officials continued to threaten North Korea with war, demanding that China cut off its support to the regime in Pyongyang.
This comes after weeks of US threats aimed at Pyongyang’s nuclear program, during which Washington flew nuclear-capable bombers to Korea to demonstrate its capacity to wage nuclear war against the North. Last week, US officials revealed that these moves were part of a laid-out “playbook” of US escalations—aimed to terrorize North Korea’s government and population.
General Walter Sharp, the former US military commander in South Korea, told America’s National Public Radio (NPR): “there’s been a lot of effort over the past two and a half years now to build this counter-provocation plan. Because that’s a hard balance of a strong response: don’t escalate, but be prepared to go to war.”
Sharp said that US and South Korean forces would rapidly respond to any firing along the border by the North Korean and prepare for an overwhelming response. He explained, “There are options that people have worked and thought through that could very quickly be brought to President Park [Geun-hye of South Korea] and President Obama.”
NPR commented, “That’s the escalation scenario, and it leads to all-out war.”
Yesterday, amid intelligence reports that North Korea may be preparing a test missile launch for April 10, South Korea dispatched Aegis guided-missile warships to waters on both sides of the Korean peninsula.
Japan indicated that it was also considering deploying its own warships to the area. Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Tokyo is preparing for a “worst-case” scenario and demanded that China and Russia play “significant roles” to resolve the stand-off.
There are unconfirmed reports that Washington has begun deploying groups of B-1 heavy bombers from the United States to the Western Pacific.
US officials speaking Sunday demanded that China force the North Korean regime to give in to US demands. Pyongyang relies on China for critical food and fuel supplies.
On CBS, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said, “China can cut off their [i.e., North Korea’s] economy if they want to. Chinese behavior has been very disappointing, whether it be on cyber security, whether it be on confrontation in the South China Sea, or whether it be their failure to rein in what could be a catastrophic situation.”
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York added, “The Chinese hold a lot of cards here. They’re by nature cautious, but they’re carrying it to an extreme. It’s about time they stepped up to the plate and put a little pressure on the North Korean regime.”
The Chinese regime in Beijing, which is in the midst of a leadership transition in both the state and the Chinese Communist Party, is divided on how to respond to the Korean crisis.
At Sunday’s regional business summit in Boao, China, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “No one should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain.” This carefully worded remark voices the alarm in Beijing over the possible outbreak of military conflict, without directly indicting either North Korea or the United States as the party responsible.
On the one hand, Beijing has given several indications of increasing hostility to Pyongyang. It has already voted for UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program earlier this year.
At the Boao summit, Xi also agreed to an extensive series of military exercises and exchanges with Australia’s armed forces. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s government is closely aligned on US imperialist interests in the region, having agreed to install a US base in Australia as part of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” aiming to contain China.
Sections of the Chinese army and bureaucracy have openly questioned Beijing’s attempts to accommodate US policy, however.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Colonel Dai Xu of the People’s Liberation Army’s National Defense University protested moves to develop closer ties to Australia: “Australia is one of the links in America’s encirclement of China. The first step of [America’s] strategic eastward move was to send troops to Australia. The Sino-Australian relationship has been good always, very good—[Gillard] can of course say that, but in China we say, ‘Listen to what they say, watch what they do.’ The US is taking Australia as a base, and who is that aimed against?”
The Western press is speculating that Zhou Yongkang, a member of Beijing’s powerful Politburo Standing Committee, is an influential supporter of the North Korean regime. A CCP official who has had responsibility for oil and security policy, he reportedly backed the coming to power of Kim Jong Un in North Korea in 2011.
Washington is placing enormous pressure on Beijing. Sections of the US press and foreign policy establishment are now mooting the possibility that Washington will go to war and kill the North Korean leadership—as it murdered Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi when it took over their countries. This was the theme of a recent Foreign Affairs article by academics Keir Lieber and Daryl Press, titled “The Next Korean War.”
If war started, they write, given Pyongyang’s military weakness, “North Korea’s inner circle would face a grave decision: how to avoid the terrible fates of such defeated leaders as Saddam Hussein and Muammar al-Gaddafi.” Lieber and Press see two possibilities for Pyongyang’s leaders to avoid murder at the hands of US and South Korean forces: a deal for them to flee to Beijing, or an attempt to deter US military action by using North Korea’s nuclear bombs.
On this basis, they argue for a policy of pressuring Beijing to help Washington organize the demise of the Pyongyang regime and the flight of its leaders to China: “American and South Korean leaders should urge China to develop ‘golden parachute’ plans for the North Korean leadership and their families… In the past, China has been understandably reluctant to hold official talks with the United States about facilitating the demise of an ally. But the prospect of nuclear war next door could induce Beijing to take more direct steps.”
These lines bluntly spell out the nuclear blackmail with which Washington is threatening Beijing: China can either face nuclear war, or acquiesce to regime change in Pyongyang and a shift of Chinese foreign policy more favorable to US imperialism. In seeking to intimidate Beijing, US imperialism is playing for the highest stakes—not only geo-strategic dominance in East Asia, but in the Middle East and the entire world economy.
As it moves against Pyongyang, Washington is also threatening Iran with war if it does not abandon its own nuclear program. It aims to prevent Pyongyang from keeping its nuclear weapons and thus serving as a model for Iran’s nuclear program, and from blocking China from protecting Iran against US war threats. This would give Washington greater leverage to continue fighting wars in the Middle East.
Washington is also trying to deter any economic pressure from China. According to US Treasury statistics, China held $1.6 trillion in US public debt in September 2012. Any significant upward spike in interest rates or decision by East Asian countries to stop lending to the US government would have potentially catastrophic economic consequences.
Writing in Foreign Affairs on US trade and budget deficits during Obama’s first term, economist Fred Bergsten noted that “foreign investors might at some point refuse to finance these deficits on terms compatible with US prosperity. Any sudden stop in lending to the United States would drive the dollar down, push inflation and interest rates up, and perhaps bring on a hard landing for the United States—and the world economy at large.”
In response to these Washington is ruthlessly plunging ahead, aiming to push through its policies and avoid economic collapse through war threats and nuclear intimidation.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged North Korea not to carry out a new nuclear test – saying it would be a “provocative” act.
The comments came as South Korea backtracked over comments that the North was preparing to carry out a fourth test.
South Korean minister Ryoo Kilhl-Jae had told parliament there were such signs amid reports of increased activity at the main atomic test site Punggye-ri.
But later South Korea’s Defence Ministry said: “We found there had been no unusual movements that indicated it wanted to carry out a nuclear test.”
Mr Ban said: “The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea cannot go on like this, confronting and challenging the authority of the (UN) Security Council and the international community.
“I am urging them to refrain from taking any further provocative measures.”
China’s Foreign Ministry also said it wanted peace on the Korean peninsula, not war, adding a proper solution to the crisis was the responsibility of all parties.
The Pentagon has already strengthened its missile defences in response to the repeated threats made by Pyongyang in recent weeks.
However, the New York Times has reported a more thorough plan that sets out a limited but forceful response to any future provocation has been drawn up by the US and South Korea.
Meanwhile, it said US officials had outlined a “counter-provocation” plan that would see a “response in kind” that would hit the source of any North Korean attack with similar weapons.
South Korea has appealed for North Korea to allow access to the Kaesong joint industrial park, six miles inside its borders.
The North has banned South Korean managers and personnel from crossing the border to enter the complex, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean co-operation, since last Wednesday.
So far 13 the 123 South Korean firms operating there have been forced to halt production due to fuel and raw material shortages.
North Korea may be preparing for a fourth nuclear test, South Korean officials say.
South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told lawmakers there were signs of increased activity in the North’s main nuclear test site.
North Korea has stepped up its habitual fiery rhetoric against the US and South Korea in recent weeks.
Correspondents say it is unclear whether a test is being prepared or it is a ruse to boost the sense of crisis.
Mr Ryoo did not elaborate on the specific intelligence which led South Korea to suspect the North was set to carry out its fourth nuclear test.
But when asked about a news report that North Korea had stepped up activity at the underground site it has used in previous tests, he said “there are such signs”.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
Tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, which sits on the Columbia River in Benton County, Washington face dangerous risk of hydrogen build up which could trigger an explosion of radioactive materials, a nuclear safety board announced on Monday.
Storage tanks at Hanford Nuclear Reservation (Photo: Philo Nordlund via Flickr)The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board expressed these concerns in a briefing letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who sought the board’s review ahead of next week’s confirmation hearing for President Obama’s Energy Secretary nominee Ernest J. Moniz—a known nuclear-hawk.
The board expressed concern over the potential for hydrogen gas buildup within the underground tanks, particularly those “double wall” tanks which contain the highly radioactive material that was previously pumped out of leaking single-shell tanks.
“All the double-shell tanks contain waste that continuously generates some flammable gas,” the board said. “This gas will eventually reach flammable conditions if adequate ventilation is not provided.”
According to the Associated Press, officials have known about the explosive potential of the hydrogen gas build up and last fall the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended additional monitoring and ventilation of the tanks, which federal officials have been working to implement.
Federal officials have thus far evaded any long term, sustainable clean up of the 56 million gallons of highly radioactive material currently held at the former Manhattan Project site.
During their review, the board also noted that the waste treatment plant, which is currently being constructed for long-term waste disposal, faces serious technical problems which could lead to “chemical explosions, inadvertent nuclear reactions and mechanical breakdowns,” the New York Timesreports.
In an interview Tuesday, Wyden said that the board’s experts had raised “a serious question as to whether this plant is going to work at all.”
“The next Secretary of Energy – Dr. Moniz – needs to understand that a major part of his job is going to be to get the Hanford cleanup back on track, and I plan to stress that at his confirmation hearing next week,” Wyden added.
South Korea has deployed two warships with missile-defence systems, reports say, a day after the North apparently moved a missile to its east coast.
Military officials told South Korean media the two warships would be deployed on the east and west coasts.
Seoul has played down the North’s missile move, saying it may be for a test rather than a hostile act.
In recent weeks, the North has ramped up its rhetoric and made specific threats to target US territory.
One of the targets named by Pyongyang was the Pacific island of Guam, which hosts a US military base.
On Thursday, the US confirmed it would deploy a missile-defence system to Guam in response to the threats.
“The moves that we have been making are designed to ensure and to reassure the American people and our allies that we can defend the United States,” said state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
South Korea’s foreign minister told MPs on Thursday that the North had moved a missile to the east coast, which is the location for previous military tests.
Unconfirmed reports on Friday said the North had moved two missiles, and had loaded them on to launchers.
The BBC’s John Sudworth in Seoul says the move will certainly be interpreted as upping the ante yet again.
The missiles are thought to be mid-range Musudans, which are untested in flight but are thought to have the capacity to reach as far as Guam.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap said that two warships equipped with Aegis defence systems would monitor the situation.
“If the North fires off a missile, we will trace its trajectory,” Yonhap quoted an official as saying.
Meanwhile, Russian diplomats said the North’s foreign ministry had asked them to consider evacuating their Pyongyang embassy.
The diplomats said they had no immediate plan to evacuate, stressing there were no outward signs of tension in Pyongyang.
A glitch at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant caused its cooling system for spent fuel to go offline. Technicians worked quickly to restore systems amid fears of a potential meltdown.
It is the latest in a series of glitches to hit the nuclear site following the multiple meltdowns caused by the tsunami of 2011.
Tokyo Electric Power confirmed that the pool attached to the plant’s Number 3 reactor was no longer operational.
Technicians are now working to get the cooling system back online. TEPCO stated the pool was at a stable 15.1C, indicating the reactor poses no immediate danger.
If the temperature of spent nuclear fuel is allowed to increase unchecked it can potentially reach the point where a nuclear reaction begins, leading to a meltdown.
Two weeks ago a massive power outage at the facility caused cooling systems to go offline. The origin of the power cut was identified as a 25cm-long “rat-like animal” that was found dead on the switchboard, a TEPCO official told Kyodo news.
The TEPCO official went on to say stronger measures would be put in place to prevent small animals from entering the switchboard.
It took 30 hours for specialists to repair the problem and bring systems back online.
The Fukushima meltdown two years ago was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, forcing tens of thousands from their homes and spilling radiation over the surrounding countryside.
The United States has deployed a battalion equipped to deal with nuclear, biological and chemical attacks in South Korea after North Korea threatened to attack the US with ‘nuclear weapons.’
Reports say about 250 soldiers from the US Army 23rd chemical battalion have returned to South Korea. The troops are stationed at Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) has said that the deployment is a revelation of the criminal attempt of the United States to impose nuclear disasters on the Korean nation.
“During the Korean War, the US indiscriminately used germ and chemical weapons against the Korean people, stunning the world,” the CPRK stated on Wednesday. “The US now seeks to make such crimes against humanity repeat.”
War of words escalated between Washington and Pyongyang after the participation of nuclear-capable US B-52s and B-2 stealth bombers in the United States’ joint military drills with South Korea.
The North Korean Army said earlier on Thursday that it received final approval for a nuclear attack on the United States in response to Washington’s threats.
The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a statement that the threats by the US would be “smashed by… cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means.”
The Pentagon said it would deploy an advanced anti-missile system to the Pacific island of Guam.
The deployment of the missile system is a “precautionary move to strengthen our regional defense posture against the North Korean regional ballistic missile threat,” the Pentagon stated.
The anti-missile system includes a truck-mounted launcher, a complement of interceptor missiles, an AN/TPY- 2 tracking radar and an integrated fire control system.
Chinese authorities slaughtered over 20,000 birds at a poultry market in Shanghai on Friday as the death toll from a new strain of bird flu mounted to six, spreading concern overseas and sparking a sell-off in airline shares in Europe and Hong Kong.
The local government in Shanghai said the Huhuai market for live birds had been shut down and 20,536 birds had been culled after authorities detected the H7N9 virus from samples of pigeons in the market. Other live poultry markets in the city will be closed down from Saturday, it said.
All the 14 reported infections from the H7N9 bird flu strain have been in eastern China and at least four of the dead are in Shanghai, a city of 23 million people and the showpiece of China’s vibrant economy.
The latest death was of a 64-year-old man in Zhejiang province, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, adding that none of the 55 people who had close contact with him had shown symptoms of infection.
Shanghai authorities stressed the H7N9 virus remained sensitive to the drug Tamiflu and those who were diagnosed early could be cured.
“We currently have enough reserves of Tamiflu to meet with the current outbreak,” Wu Fan, director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control & Prevention, told a news conference.
Tamiflu is made by Roche Holding AG.
Airline shares tumbled in European markets on fears the outbreak could become widespread. The STOXX Europe 600 travel and leisure sector index fell as much as 1.6 percent, the biggest laggard among European sectors.
“The sector is reacting to fears of a new pandemic of bird flu in China, which would hurt air traffic,” said a Paris-based airline sector analyst.
In Hong Kong, the overall index closed at a four-month low, led by falls in airline shares over fears of diminished demand for air travel. Air China slumped 9.8 percent, its worst single-day loss in nearly four years.
“The bird flu issue is at the top of people’s minds now,” said Alfred Chan, chief dealer at Cheer Pearl Investment in Hong Kong.
In Shanghai, the rising death toll prompted some residents to stay away from markets with live chickens and ducks.
“I’m only getting my groceries at the large supermarkets now because I don’t think it is safe to visit the wet markets anymore,” said 38-year-old Shao Linxia, adding she had also stopped buying poultry since news of the bird flu surfaced.
“We all remember SARS and how quickly it could spread, so we are obviously worried.”
Updated 15:10PM Central: INTERCEPTED military communications indicate North Korea could be planning to launch a ballistic missile which was spotted being moved by train.
The revelation comes after South Korean officials revealed a medium-range “Musudan” missile had been spotted being loaded on to a train and transported towards the coast of the Sea of Japan.
The Yonhap news agency reported speculation that the missile may be fired on April 15, the birthday of the nation’s founder Kim Il-sung.
The US is reportedly seeking the location of a secret North Korean launch facility or hidden launch vehicles on the nation’s east coast. The location is of particular concern as any launch would likely go over the coast of Japan.
Updated 07:30AM Central: The AFP is reporting that North Korea seen moving missile after it declares it has given approval for a nuclear attack on the United States.
South Korean Yonhap news agency reports that North Korea’s new KN08 Musudan missile has been spotted in the process of being transported by train towards the Sea of Japan.
It has yet to be confirmed whether the missile was carrying a warhead, but multiple sources in Seoul forecast that Pyongyang is likely to fire it off around April 15, when North Koreans celebrate the birthday of its founder Kim Il-sung.
The KN08 Musudan is still under-development and it is unclear if it has the range to reach the United States mainland. Previous assessments have given it a range of 4000km – potentially enough to reach the United States controlled island of Guam.
Updated 14:25PM Central: The AFP is reporting that the North Korean Army has received “final approval” for a nuclear attack.
AFP is reporting the declaration, which came minutes after the United States announced it would deploy a land-based missile defence system to Guam to counter North Korean threats of a nuclear strike. (source)
Originally published 14:03PM Central:
A well known military analyst claims that policy decisions and troop movements by the United States, China, Japan, and other nations indicate that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un may be preparing to deploy intercontinental ballistic missiles and other offensive weapons systems.
There have been a number of vague official statements and inscrutable leaks that seem to suggest North Korea is taking steps to deploy the KN-08 ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) without a flight test.
This is a very unusual step, but not an inconceivable one.
Still, the US has yet to say so directly. This is unacceptable. The United States, Australia and other allies appear to be taking important policy decisions on the basis of the imminent deployment of the KN-08.
If this is the case, they should say so directly and provide the basis for asserting the imminent deployment of the KN-08.
The KN-08 was, up until recently, believed to be a prop and not a functioning system, but intelligence suggests it may, in fact, be an operational system, and that it may be capable of striking long-range targets in the United States, which may explain why Kim has made numerous overt threats, claiming that North Korea would soon target American cities like Washington DC, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.
Yesterday, it was reported that in addition to the possibility of functioning ICMB’s, North Korea’s space delivery vehicle, deployed in December of 2012, could potentially house a “Super EMP” nuclear weapons payload, which if detonated over the continental United States would have catastrophic consequences that include a breakdown of the national power grid.
Analysts say North Korea’s reported threats, recent missile tests and troop movements, coupled with the allied response, including re-positioning of US naval assets and troop mobilization on the Chinese/North Korea border, suggest that a full-scale military engagement is becoming more likely:
The impending launch [of the KN-08] comes on the heels of intelligence about missile movements on the western side of the peninsula. Pentagon Press Secretary told reporters yesterday that “test flights” of certain missile systems were possible.
The surest sign of intent occurred Wednesday morning when North Korea delayed the passage of and then blocked hundreds of South Korean workers from the shared Kaesong market. If the market remains closed on Thursday, it would be another strong indicator of intent.
This measure from Kim Jong-Un follows significant troop movements on behalf of both the U.S. and China. Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon recently reported that troops have begun staging in two of China’s northeast provinces.
Those provinces both align with known nuclear sites inside North Korea.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has moved an advanced radar and two Aegis class destroyers off the west coast. The $900 million SBX radar array has been compared to the Iron Dome in Israel, only much more accurate — and the Aegis-class destroyers are particularly adept at knocking missiles out of the sky.
Defense Secretary Hagel said today that North Korea’s threats are a “real and clear danger,” and that the United States is “doing everything we can … to defuse that situation on the peninsula.”
While the threat posed by North Korea sits at the forefront of recent, news, not everyone thinks it’s as serious as claimed by the mainstream media, or, that there is a threat, but not exactly as it’s being described.
Until recently no one really believed the North had the desire or ability to fight the United States head on, and that the posturing from Kim Jong Un and his late father Kim Jong Il were meant to keep tight control over the Korean population. Given the isolation, new leadership and lack of modern military firepower, it may not be realistic to believe that North Korea has any intention of going to war, and rather, elements of the global elite are taking steps to protect their interests and they’re preparing new Korean War to coincide with a global economic implosion.
Economic depressions are highly scripted affairs and the banksters use them to initiate big wars – not only because wars are remarkably profitable for the military-industrial complex, but because they serve as an ideal tool for wealth consolidation and fire sales held in their aftermath. Big wars are also exploited to enforce rigid discipline on the masses. It gives the plebs an excuse to accept grinding poverty and servitude. (Infowars)
After 2008, many contrarian military, political and economic analysts suggested that the economic crisis, centered around tens of trillions of dollars in bad debts and derivative gambles, would likely end in widespread global warfare.
A global war is beginning. The first stages, of course, are the financial wars. And that’s what we’re seeing now. -Trend Researcher Gerald Celente, February 2012
think this economic crisis is very serious and it will end with the next war. In the next war you will not have a conventional war. You will have dirty forces. The hostile forces, they will be called in the West, Terrorists. They will attack major urban centers. You don’t want to have your house in a financial center. You want to have a farm in the middle of nowhere. -Marc Faber of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report, March 2009
Could bankers, military industrial complex leaders, and elite organizations be preparing for the end game?
Text Of The Official Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea
The moves of the U.S. imperialists to violate the sovereignty of the DPRK and encroach upon its supreme interests have entered an extremely grave phase. Under this situation, the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un, brilliant commander of Mt. Paektu, convened an urgent operation meeting on the performance of duty of the Strategic Rocket Force of the Korean People’s Army for firepower strike and finally examined and ratified a plan for firepower strike.
The important decision made by him is the declaration of a do-or-die battle to provide an epochal occasion for putting an end to the history of the long-standing showdown with the U.S. and opening a new era. It is also a last warning of justice served to the U.S., south Korean group and other anti-reunification hostile forces. The decision reflects the strong will of the army and people of the DPRK to annihilate the enemies.
Now the heroic service personnel and all other people of the DPRK are full of surging anger at the U.S. imperialists’ reckless war provocation moves, and the strong will to turn out as one in the death-defying battle with the enemies and achieve a final victory of the great war for national reunification true to the important decision made by Kim Jong Un.
The Supreme Command of the KPA in its previous statement solemnly declared at home and abroad the will of the army and people of the DPRK to take decisive military counteraction to defend the sovereignty of the country and the dignity of its supreme leadership as regards the war moves of the U.S. and south Korean puppets that have reached the most extreme phase.
Not content with letting B-52 make sorties into the sky over south Korea in succession despite the repeated warnings of the DPRK, the U.S. made B-2A stealth strategic bomber and other ultra-modern strategic strike means fly from the U.S. mainland to south Korea to stage a bombing drill targeting the DPRK. This is an unpardonable and heinous provocation and an open challenge.
By taking advantage of the U.S. reckless campaign for a nuclear war against the DPRK, the south Korean puppets vociferated about “preemptive attack” and “strong counteraction” and even “strike at the commanding forces”, openly revealing the attempt to destroy monuments symbolic of the dignity of the DPRK’s supreme leadership.
This clearly shows that the U.S. brigandish ambition for aggression and the puppets’ attempt to invade the DPRK have gone beyond the limit and their threats have entered the reckless phase of an actual war from the phase of threat and blackmail.
The prevailing grim situation more clearly proves that the Supreme Command of the KPA was just when it made the judgment and decision to decisively settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists and south Korean puppets by dint of the arms of Military-First politics (So’ngun), because time when words could work has passed.
Now they are openly claiming that the B-2A stealth strategic bombers’ drill of dropping nuclear bombs was “not to irritate the north” but “the defensive one”. The U.S. also says the drill is “to defend the interests of its ally”. However, it is nothing but a lame pretext to cover up its aggressive nature, evade the denunciation at home and abroad and escape from the DPRK’s retaliatory blows.
The era when the U.S. resorted to the policy of strength by brandishing nuclear weapons has gone.
It is the resolute answer of the DPRK and its steadfast stand to counter the nuclear blackmail of the U.S. imperialists with merciless nuclear attack and their war of aggression with just all-out war.
They should clearly know that in the era of Marshal Kim Jong Un, the greatest-ever commander, all things are different from what they used to be in the past.
The hostile forces will clearly realize the iron will, matchless grit and extraordinary mettle of the brilliant commander of Mt. Paektu that the earth cannot exist without Military-First (So’ngun) Korea.
Time has come to stage a do-or-die final battle.
The government, political parties and organizations of the DPRK solemnly declare as follows reflecting the final decision made by Kim Jong Un at the operation meeting of the KPA Supreme Command and the unanimous will of all service personnel and people of the DPRK who are waiting for a final order from him.
1.From this moment, the north-south relations will be put at the state of war and all the issues arousing between the north and the south will be dealt with according to the wartime regulations.
The state of neither peace nor war has ended on the Korean Peninsula.
Now that the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have entered into an actual military action, the inter-Korean relations have naturally entered the state of war. Accordingly, the DPRK will immediately punish any slightest provocation hurting its dignity and sovereignty with resolute and merciless physical actions without any prior notice.
2. If the U.S. and the south Korean puppet group perpetrate a military provocation for igniting a war against the DPRK in any area including the five islands in the West Sea of Korea or in the area along the Military Demarcation Line, it will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war.
It is self-evident that any military conflict on the Korean Peninsula is bound to lead to an all-out war, a nuclear war now that even U.S. nuclear strategic bombers in its military bases in the Pacific including Hawaii and Guam and in its mainland are flying into the sky above south Korea to participate in the madcap DPRK-targeted nuclear war moves.
The first strike of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will blow up the U.S. bases for aggression in its mainland and in the Pacific operational theatres including Hawaii and Guam and reduce not only its military bases in south Korea but the puppets’ ruling institutions including Chongwadae and puppet army’s bases to ashes at once, to say nothing of the aggressors and the provokers.
3. The DPRK will never miss the golden chance to win a final victory in a great war for national reunification.
This war will not be a three day-war but it will be a blitz war through which the KPA will occupy all areas of south Korea including Jeju Island at one strike, not giving the U.S. and the puppet warmongers time to come to their senses, and a three-dimensional war to be fought in the air, land and seas and on the front line and in the rear.
This sacred war of justice will be a nation-wide, all-people resistance involving all Koreans in the north and the south and overseas in which the traitors to the nation including heinous confrontation maniacs, warmongers and human scum will be mercilessly swept away.
No force on earth can break the will of the service personnel and people of the DPRK all out in the just great war for national reunification and of all other Koreans and overpower their might.
Holding in high esteem the peerlessly great men of Mt. Paektu, the Korean people will give vent to the pent-up grudge and realize their cherished desire and thus bring a bright day of national reunification and build the best power on this land without fail.
The North Korean military says it has ratified a “merciless” attack against the United States, potentially involving a “cutting-edge” nuclear strike.
“The moment of explosion is approaching fast,” the army said in a statement on state news agency KCNA.
War could break out “today or tomorrow”, the statement said, quoting a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army.
“The merciless operation of (our) revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified.
“The US had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation.”
The North’s rhetoric has been met by a display of US military strength
The North’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea was later quoted by KCNA as threatening to withdraw its 53,000 workers from the joint industrial zone it shares with the South.
Pyongyang informed Seoul on Wednesday that it was stopping the daily movement of South Koreans to the Kaesong complex, the last real surviving point of contact between the two countries.
And the committee said: “If the South Korean puppets and conservative news media keep badmouthing (us), we will order all our workers to pull out from Kaesong.”
North Korea’s latest pronouncements came as Washington scrambled to reinforce its Pacific defences, preparing to move an advanced missile defence system to the island of Guam.
Mr Hagel said North Korea posed a “real and clear danger”
The land-based weapon, which is primed to shoot down short and medium-range missiles, will be sent to the US territory to defend its bases there.
The Pentagon has already sent bombers, stealth aircraft and ships.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the North had moved a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast.
The missile is believed to have a range of 1,875 miles (3,000km) or more, which would put all of South Korea and Japan in range and possibly also the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
North Korea is not believed to have tested these missiles, according to most independent experts.
Tensions have been soaring on the Korean peninsula since the North launched a long-range rocket in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February.
A military checkpoint linked to the Kaesong joint industrial complex
North Korea has threatened missile and nuclear strikes against the US and South Korea in response to UN sanctions and joint military drills.
European diplomatic sources speaking to Sky News from the North Korean capital have said there is nothing there to suggest war is imminent: no sign of conscripts being signed up or unusual troop movements.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday that North Korea’s “bellicose, dangerous rhetoric” posed a “real and clear danger” to America and its allies South Korea and Japan.
“They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now,” he said.
“We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously.
“We are doing everything we can, working with the Chinese and others to defuse that situation on the peninsula.
“I hope the North will ratchet its very dangerous rhetoric down.”
The UK Government said it was not warning of an immediate risk to British citizens travelling to or living in South Korea.
In a statement to Sky News, the UK Embassy in Seoul said: “We have noted North Korea’s most recent statement, we are monitoring the situation and are in close contact with allies.
“We have been clear to North Korea that its long-term interests will not be served by threatening the international community and increasing regional tensions.
“We have updated our Travel Advice, advising British nationals in Korea and those travelling here to follow the advice of local authorities and subscribe to our travel advice, Twitter feed and Facebook page. We currently assess there is no immediate risk to British nationals in or travelling to Korea.”
The tensions surrounding Kaesong – established in 2004 and a crucial source of hard currency for North Korea – carry enormous significance.
Neither of the Koreas has allowed previous crises to significantly affect the complex, which is the only surviving example of inter-Korean cooperation and seen as a bellwether for stability on the Korean peninsula.
China, the North’s sole major ally, appealed for “calm” from all sides, repeating Beijing’s oft-declared position.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s rhetoric over nuclear weapons and the possibility of war with the United States and its allies makes almost no plausible sense considering that their long range missile capabilities are lacking and their military hardware is reportedly outdated when compared to the militaries of developed western nations. While the communist regime does have millions of soldiers at their disposal, the notion that North Korea will start and win a war against the U.S. seems outlandish.
So, either Kim Jong Un’s recent actions are a part of internal posturing to keep the North Korean populace compliant through propaganda, or the young leader has been empowered by an ace up his sleeve that the North’s enemies do not yet fully understand.
The idea that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea may have a secret weapon of sorts may sound far-fetched, but not everyone considers it an impossibility. With the U.S. deploying naval assets to the region and Chinese troops mobilizing en masse at the border, there is a distinct possibility that a military clash of some type is in the works.
In December of last year, the DPRK launched an orbital satellite, which left many wondering about its payload. Could it be that this ‘space launch vehicle’ is carrying a star wars type nuclear weapons package?
U.S. officials quietly are expressing concern that North Korea could use its “space launch vehicle” to explode a high-altitude nuclear device over the United States, creating an electromagnetic pulse that would destroy major portions of the U.S. electrical grid system as well as the nation’s critical infrastructures.
The concern is so great that U.S. officials who watch North Korea closely are continually monitoring the status of the North Korean “space launch vehicle,” whose status could suggest a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States.
They are aware of the three-stage missile North Korea launched last December that also orbited a “package,” which experts say could be a test to orbit a nuclear weapon that then would be deorbited on command anywhere over the U.S. and exploded at a high altitude, creating an EMP effect.
…
This concern recently has been reinforced by a little-publicized study by the U.S. Army War College that said a nuclear detonation at altitude above a U.S. city could wipe out the electrical grid for hundreds, possibly thousands of miles around.
The impact would be catastrophic.
“Preparing for months without a commercial source of clean water (city water pressure is often dependent on electric pumping to storage towers) and stoppage of sewage treatment facilities will require net methods of survival particularly in populated areas,” the military study said.
The May 2011 study, titled, “In the Dark: Military Planning for a Catastrophic Critical Infrastructure Event,” concluded that there is “very little” in the way of backup capability to the electric grid upon which the communications infrastructure is vitally dependent.
Two years ago the North Koreans detonated a nuclear weapon that experts claimed had such a low-yield it posed no significant threat. However, EMPact President Dr. Peter Vincent Pry has a different assessment. He suggests that, while the blast may have been weak, if detonated at high altitude over the United States, the gamma rays emitted are powerful enough to disable the national power grid across the lower 48 states.
According to experts, a blast of this nature detonated 300 miles above the state of Nebraska would be a life-as-we-know-it ending event:
“Within a year of that attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can’t support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity.”
This begs the question: Is it possible that the payload on North Korea’s ‘space launch vehicle’ was actually a Super EMP, or electro-magnetic pulse weapon, that is now awaiting a ‘go’ signal from Kim Jong Un?
His arrogance certainly suggests he knows something we don’t. And with fellow North Korean rogue ally Iran recently claiming that 2013 will be the fall of the American empire, maybe this time North Korea isn’t just talking.
Super EMP weapons exist, and in all likelihood North Korea has such a weapon. They also have a space-based delivery system that may be capable of deploying it directly over the central United States.
Such a scenario is an outlier, but certainly not an impossibility.
Nuclear attack and electro -magnetic pulse weapons are two of the most dangerous man-made threats we face. Preparing for such an event is possible, but should it come to pass it would render all of our technological advancements over the last hundred years useless and would leave the United States no better off than a third-world nation.
An expert panel that Congress created to study such an attack says it would halt banking, transportation, food, water and emergency services and “might result in defeat of our military forces.”
“The consequences would be catastrophic,” said Joseph McClelland, director of the energy commission’s Office of Electric Reliability.
“It would bring down the whole grid and cost between $1 trillion and $2 trillion” to repair, said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md. Full recovery could take up to 10 years, he said.
When it hits the fan, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Mac Slavo is the editor of SHTFplan.com, a resource hub for alternative news, contrarian commentary and strategies that you can take to protect yourself from the coming global paradigm shift.
North Korea has stopped South Koreans from crossing the border to work at the jointly run Kaesong industrial zone, for the first time since 2009.
Seoul said about 800 South Koreans who had stayed overnight at the complex were being allowed to return.
Kaesong is a crucial revenue source for the North, which has not indicated how long the entry ban will last.
Pyongyang has threatened the South and the US in recent weeks, and has vowed to restart a mothballed nuclear plant.
The border into Kaesong is the last functioning crossing between the two Koreas, and the complex is the last significant symbol of co-operation.
Kaesong Industrial Complex
Launched in 2003, largely financed by the South to increase co-operation
More than 120 factories employ North Koreans in manufacturing industries, with goods exported to the South
Complex as a whole produced $470m worth of goods in 2012 – the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade
South Korean companies pay more than $80m a year in wages to North Korean workers – the complex is an important source of revenue for Pyongyang
The industrial park is home to more than 120 factories that employ more than 50,000 North Koreans and several hundred managers from the South.
Permission is granted on a daily basis for workers to cross into the complex, where they can stay overnight. More than 850 South Koreans were at Kaesong when the ban was announced, and very few have returned. The BBC’s Lucy Williamson, at the border, says many have decided not to return immediately because they fear they will not be allowed back in.
One South Korean worker who returned from the complex said some of his colleagues had been held up because they had no transport.
“Other people couldn’t return because they were supposed to be taken home on trucks scheduled to carry supplies into North Korea, but the trucks couldn’t get into the North,” said the worker.
The South’s Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-seok told reporters he wanted the ban to be lifted immediately.
“Ensuring the safety of our citizens is our top priority and the South Korean government will take necessary measures based on this principle,” he said.
Seoul says the South’s firms pay $80m in wages each year to workers in the North. The complex sustains the city of Kaesong, with an estimated population of 300,000. North Korea threatened to shut down the Kaesong complex last week. It has also threatened attacks on US military bases in Asia and South Korean border islands.
On Tuesday it said it planned to restart its mothballed reactor at Yongbyon, which is the source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons programme. The North has apparently been angered by UN sanctions imposed after a recent nuclear test.
Its statements against the US seem to be in response to the current round of US-South Korea military drills.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called recent North Korean actions:
“dangerous” and “reckless”.
“Let me be perfectly clear here today. The United States will defend and protect ourselves and our treaty ally, the Republic of Korea [South Korea],” he said after talks with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se.
Investigative journalist John Sweeney says North Korea has “worst government in the world” The US has recently made a series of high-profile flights of advanced aircraft over South Korea. The sorties included stealth fighters and nuclear-capable B-52 bombers.
Officials have also confirmed that the USS John McCain, an Aegis-class destroyer capable of intercepting missiles, has been positioned off the Korean peninsula. A second destroyer, the USS Decatur, has been sent to the region.
China, the North’s only powerful ally, said it had despatched officials on Tuesday to hold talks with ambassadors from North Korea, South Korea and the US. Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the officials had expressed “serious concern” about the current situation.
“China believes all sides must remain calm and exercise restraint and not take actions which are mutually provocative and must certainly not take actions which will worsen the situation,” he said.
On Tuesday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the crisis had “gone too far” and called for urgent talks with the North.
“Things must begin to calm down, there is no need for the DPRK [North Korea] to be on a collision course with the international community. Nuclear threats are not a game,” Mr Ban said.
North Korea says it will restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007.
In a statement, it said the move would bolster North Korea’s nuclear forces “in quality and quantity”.
The move is the latest in a series of measures by Pyongyang in the wake of its third nuclear test in February.
It has been angered by the resultant UN sanctions and joint US-South Korea annual military drills.
In recent weeks the communist state has issued a series of threats against both South Korean and US targets, to which the US has responded with high-profile movements of advanced aircraft and warships around the Korean peninsula.
A South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said that if true, the North Korean move would be “highly regrettable”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei called for restraint from all sides to resolve the “complex and sensitive” situation.
With scientists the world over watching Avian Flu H5 N1 for signs that it has started to pass easily from human to human a new strain of Avian Flu has been detected.
Two men, one aged 87 and the other 27 have died in Shanghai after been infected with H7N9, a form never known previously to have been passed to humans. Although from the same area there is no connection between the men. A third victim, a 35 year old woman from Anhul province which is close by is critically ill in the hospital.
Currently there is no vaccine to protect against H7N9 and doctors are working around the clock to find a suitable treatment regimen. Both the dead men reported with coughs and fever before developing pneumonia and succumbing to the disease.
The new stain moving from birds to humans comes just a few weeks after a new type of coronavirus was discovered that has so far killed more than a dozen people, three in the UK and the rest in the Middle East.
So far, the World Health Organization has only issued a general statement saying:
Most avian flu viruses to not infect humans and so far the majority of H5N1 cases have been associated with contact with infected poultry.
There was no mention of the new strain which is not referenced in the WHO Avian Influenza information section. It is assumed that now H7N9 has made the species jump it will be included in the near future.
Some Chinese language blogs are suggesting that the son on one of the victims is fighting for his life and that a 5th victim is isolated in a different hospital. It has also been said by some on the blog sites that none of the dead or sickened have had contact with poultry. Although these facts can’t at this point be confirmed, it would not be surprising as the Chinese are notoriously tight-lipped regarding information that has not come from official sources.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
North Korea has entered a “state of war” against its Southern neighbor, stating that from now on any issues between the two countries will be resolved in a “wartime manner.”
“From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly,” a special statement by the country’s top military command reads, according to the KCNA state news agency.
“The situation in the Korean Peninsula, which is neither peace nor war, has come to an end,” the statement says.
However, technically, the two Koreas are still in state of war since a peace treaty after the 1950-53 conflict had never been signed.
Washington “should be clear that in era of Marshal Kim Jong-un, the greatest-ever commander, all things are different from the past,” went a statement on North Korean radio early Saturday.
Meanwhile the White House is taking the fresh North Korean threats seriously, but not without a bit of skepticism.
“We’ve seen reports of a new and unconstructive statement from North Korea,” said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council. “We take these threats seriously and remain in close contact with our South Korean allies.”
“But, we would also note that North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric and threats and today’s announcement follows that familiar pattern,” Hayden added.
Russia warns US, North Korea muscle-flexing slipping into ‘vicious cycle’
With North Korea placing its ballistic arsenal on high alert targeting American bases and the US tenaciously increasing military presence in the region, the whole situation risks “spiraling out of control” soon, warned Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
Both North Korea and the US bear responsibility for the recent substantial escalation of tensions, Lavrov said on Friday, calling on “all sides not to flex their military muscle.”
“We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the UN Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity,” Lavrov added, apparently referring to US plans to boost missile defense against the North, the joint US-South Korean contingency plan in the event of an attack as well as their recent military drills.
In a noteworthy contrast to all the previous war games, this time American B-2 bombers flew over 10,000 kilometers to stage a mock bombing of Korean soil, in a move that US officials confirmed to be unprecedented.
Following this “reckless provocation” North Korean military command held an urgent overnight meeting during which the state’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un signed a decree placing the Strategic Rocket Force on standby.
“The situation could simply get out of control,” Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Friday, calling for a resumption of a six-party discussion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal within the framework of country’s international obligations.
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Tess Pennington is the author of The Prepper’s Cookbook: 300 Recipes to Turn Your Emergency Food into Nutritious, Delicious, Life-Saving Meals. When a catastrophic collapse cripples society, grocery store shelves will empty within days. But if you follow this book’s plan for stocking, organizing and maintaining a proper emergency food supply, your family will have plenty to eat for weeks, months or even years.
